Sorry it's a bit late:
The Chronicle of the Thracians
260BC: Troops moved from Alexandria to Memphis.
259: Moved south to Thebes. Great projects for the construction of farms ordered, to ensure the kingdom had much needed revenues. Some garrison reductions ordered; siege of Thebes begins.
Black Battle of Thebes. Pharaoh Khnumhoptep attacks the besieging force with great score of troops. His powerful chariots sweep our forces away utterly, killing many of the great men of the realm. Sautes alone among his generals escapes, bitter and heartbroken.
He nevertheless orders the training of more hoplite militias to defend Alexandria and Memphis against any oncoming counter-attack; the coming months could be crucial to the young realm.
258: Egyptians besiege Memphis. A governor’s villa ordered in Kydonia.
Khnumhoptep assaults Memphis, with vastly superior strength in arms.
His forces advance on the walls of Memphis. They have one great battering ram, which he has titled “The Shatterer of Horus”, one great tower “The Tower of Zeus”, and various siege ladders, thus ensuring both Egypt’s old and new gods are recognised. The ram, however, is burned and destroyed by the powerful ballistae in the towers above the gates of Memphis. Thus deprived of a way to get his powerful chariots inside easily, he attempts to take the gate by sending his spearmen up the ladders and towers. These are cut down by the brave Thracian falxmen. In a rage, the Pharaoh sent his javelinmen to climb the ladders too, though these died even more swiftly. At last, he was forced to ride away, swearing revenge on all the Thracian people. 128 Thracians died on the walls; nearly nine hundred of Egypt’s infantry were sent to whatever hell they pleased.
257:
Sautes, most noble of leaders, finally dies, exhausted by the Black Battle and then by his heroic defence of Memphis. Byzas his second son becomes the new King, with Deopus his daughter’s husband as heir to the Thracian throne. A split in the family geographically is now clear; the line of Byzas is entirely in Egypt, whereas that of Pytros, the elder, remains in Old Thrace.
An Egyptian navy attempts to blockade the docks at Alexandria but is swiftly defeated. Byzas’ reign is something the Egyptians are not prepared to have last long, though, and both Alexandria and Memphis are rapidly besieged by vast Egyptian hordes. It is at this desperate moment that Bryzos son of Byzas is given his first cavalry command, helping his father in the defence of Alexandria.
256: The Egyptians seem determined to starve the two cities out; the larger garrison, that of Alexandria, is forced to try and act. There are 1300 Thracians against 1500 Egyptians.
In the battle, Byzas falls, as does the Egyptian commander, Shabaka Auletes. The Thracians kill 1276 Egyptians for 860 or so losses, but fail to decisively push the Egyptians from the battlefield as the morale of the hoplite militia wavers. Bryzos is made the new heir.
Bryzos quickly realises that he is better placed now to push the Egyptians from Alexandria – it will take the Pharaoh another three years if he wants to starve Memphis out – and orders a second attempt at a counterattack. He finally defeats the Egyptians, though losing many of his own many in the process; just two hundred Thracians now guard Alexandria. Bryzos quickly orders the training of more men for the war.
Khnumhoptep, on hearing of his forces’ failures at Alexandria, orders the construction of siege equipment and an assault on Memphis; his infantry only consists of a tiny number of Libyans, however, and the ram they build is swiftly destroyed.
255: Deopus, the siege at last lifted, orders Phalanx Pikemen to be trained. It is not lifted for long though, as the vengeful Pharaoh orders another attack. Riots break out in Tylis, with the practice range being badly damaged.
254: The Pharaoh’s armies finally leave Memphis. Given a breathing space, King Deopus decides that shrewd financial investment is much needed. He orders the building of better roads around Tylis and Alexandria.
Tylis, however, is not in a good state. The barbarous Scyths swoop from the north and attack the city under their great warlord Partatua.
253: Scouts are sent south to see what the Pharaoh is up to. Troops are seen moving around Thebes, and men are sent from Alexandria to Memphis in case this portends an assault.
Partatua moves against the garrison in Tylis. Desakenthos, the Thracian commander, realises they have only built a single ram, and packs his hoplites at the gate in the hope that the poorer quality Scythians will be unable to break their phalanx.
All is in vain, however; whilst the main body of the barbarians flee, the bodyguard of Partatua break the phalanx and kill Desakenthos – though Partatua himself is also slain in the fighting, this is little recompense for the loss of the Thracian ancestral home. Iptacens, the last member of the Pytrid line, is unceremoniously executed by the Scythians.
A further result is the renewed importance of Egypt. Deopus, now essentially capital of a state based on the Nile Delta with its capital at Alexandria, moves south with all his men to finally try and challenge the might of Pharaoh.
252: News of a new army moving on Alexandria reaches Deopus and he moves north to block its path – the Pharaoh will have to wait until another day. The Pharaoh hunts down a Thracian scouting party and annihilates it, then moves to besiege Memphis again.
251: Deopus takes the field against the northern Egyptian force. He adopts a son, Mukaporis, a promising young cavalryman, as his second in command. He eventually hunts down the enemy not far from the great Pharos lighthouse; the Battle of the Pharos is about to begin.
The battle is vast, and the greatest Thracian victory in many years. 2274 Thracians take the field and just over thirty of them die – though these sadly include Mukaporis, slain just as he entered the world of politics by the knife of a mere Egyptian javelinman. The Egyptian force of 1200 men is obliterated, with only nine escaping to tell the tale. The telling factor is the sheer number of Thracian skirmishers, wounding the enemy grievously such that when the hoplites and pikemen attack, the Egyptian line breaks almost instantly.
Deopus once more turns south, where the siege of Memphis is still underway. A treaty of alliance is signed with the Seleucids, who are themselves facing the great wrath of the Pharaoh’s armies according to the map information they have given us.
Fresh from his great victory at the Pharos, Deopus gambles on attacking the Pharaoh near Memphis. This is a gamble too far, though; the massive chariot battalion of the Pharaoh kills him and destroys most of his routing army. The remainder, under Captain Kersebleptos, manages to fight an effective rearguard action later in the year, but even this is eventually defeated. The Pharaoh has few men left, but the Thracian garrisons are now threadbare at best and with an inexperienced young king.
250: Bryzos I’s reign had to start with creating a succession. Two commanders, Spartacus and Ketripioris, were promoted to allow this, and the army of Deopus was retrained rapidly in Memphis. Ketripioris left Memphis to attempt to go round the Pharaoh’s army to Alexandria, but a new Egyptian force appeared in his way. Spartacus led an army south to feint an attack on Thebes, leaving a guard on the main bridge the Pharaoh would have to cross to follow them; the Pharaoh’s army did not move, however…
I didn't do very well, basically. 1 province lost, 0 gained, held on in Egypt, high turnover of leaders. Definitely we're in with a shout of getting Thebes again though, and the Egyptians really suck at attacking big walls so build lots of them.
Also get ALL of the pikes. And watch out for chariots, basically all my defeats involved the Pharaoh's chariots personally running my entire army over.
